The 2016 Honda Civic Coupe Design: Having Clear Objectives

Every time we see a new car for the first time, we tend to concentrate on the technical details: performance, new technologies, fuel consumption…

However, design is a major element that often gets overlooked. That’s a shame, because the vehicle’s appearance is the first thing you see, and that first impression will have a major influence on your opinion.

During the launch of the 2016 Honda Civic Coupe, I had the opportunity to sit with Guy Melville-Brown, lead designer for the car. After a short discussion, I gained valuable insight about what the design process entails.

First of all, the 2016 Civic Coupe hasn’t been drawn by a single person, as around 50 people were part of the design. Furthermore, artists weren’t alone to shape the car: M. Melville-Brown worked closely with John Hwang, Lead Engineer for the project. Honda has a different approach than most manufacturers: instead of separating departments and having a single person at the top of the project, they encourage discussions between design and engineering. This way, the whole process is much more streamlined, and there is less tension between artists trying to make jaw-dropping lines and engineers working to make the vehicle as efficient as possible.

There is another important thing to note about the 2016 Honda Civic Coupe: when drawing the car, designers didn’t look at the Civic’s past. It would have been easy for Guy and John to take inspiration from any of the compact car’s previous generations, but they wanted to start from a clean slate. According to the designer, they instead chose an objective: if Soichiro Honda—founder of the company who passed away in 1991—was still alive today, he would have to like this new Civic. Considering the man was responsible for the very first Honda Civic, it’s easy to see what drove the team to success.

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